American Taliban
The Ignorant and Damaging Politics of George W. Bush
by Manuel Valenzuela

www.dissidentvoice.org
January 29, 2004First Published in
Axis of Logic

It
is said that evolution is an unstoppable force, be it biological or
societal. Progress seems to be the hallmark of human civilization since the
dawn of mankindís birth in the forests of Africa to our eventual Diaspora
throughout the globe. Every man, woman and child owes their existence to the
first ape-like hominids that, not too long ago in the giant clock of Earthís
history, left the trees for the savanna, later to spread to all corners of
our only home. Every race, ethnicity and color was at one point primitive,
at some time labeled barbarian by more "advanced" civilizations, during the
brief domination by our species of this most wonderful home. From barbarians
we became "civilized" men and women, escaping our tribal inclinations for
the sake of exploitation at the hands of feudal lords, anointed kings,
corrupted church leaders and elite capitalists.

Yet throughout time
immemorial, a constant has always been manís progress away from our
primitiveness and animal instincts. Of course progress and human behavioral
evolution do not change overnight. It takes thousands, even tens of
thousands of years for our behaviors to evolve away from our animal urges
and passions. We are, therefore, still very much the animals we have for
centuries distanced ourselves away from. Our animal instincts are the
symptoms of our disease; our thirst for blood, violence and war, our passion
to dominate and selfishly exploit, the ceaseless hunger for territory and
resources, the need to procreate. Revenge, fear, love, hatred, selfishness,
greed and violent manifestations of unfettered anger all owe their existence
to our inability to control Ė along with our denial Ė our animal selves.

There is no doubt we have
come a long way. Our ability to control our violent selves has given way to
a greater respect for human life. We are no longer the methodical killers we
once were or the inhumane punishers of yesteryear. We respect laws,
institutions and a personís right to life. Humanityís progress has changed a
lot of things for the better considering the incessant pursuit of violence
scarring our historical existence. The growing concern for human rights is a
great leap forward and a natural and inevitable step in our civilizationís
evolution.

Progress and humanity are
not mutually exclusive. Only on rare occasions do we take a step behind,
regressing back to earlier times. The more natural inclination has been a
progress towards better and greater things. This inevitability arises
because of the greater enlightenment of mankind as we progress as a
civilization. It cannot be stopped. To try and halt what is humanityís move
toward greater progressiveness is to mettle in powers beyond manís control
or understanding. Yet those with conservative and status quo inclinations
continue their dead-end quest to subvert civilizationís natural tendencies
toward the betterment of the species, toward progress.

One only needs to look at
the Catholic Church to see great attempts at curtailing progress only end in
miserable failure. Time and time again the Church has tried to fight
progress, only to be sent reeling back to its dark dungeons of ignorance. At
times it has succeeded in stopping progressí onward momentum, yet these
attempts only serve to temporarily halt their eventual demise. Today, the
Catholic Churchís failure to evolve along with progress has left it a
microcosm of its former self, impotent and unable to change humanity as it
once did.

Even with the great power
of the Church in the last thousand years progress was only impeded, never
squashed. Humanityís natural and never-ending pursuit of progress is a
momentum not even manís greatest forces can hinder. As a result, we live in
modern times of scientific and human wonderment and not in the dark ages of
unyielding ignorance. Mankindís road to progress may be filled with bumps
and obstacles but it is nevertheless clear and straight, always heading
upwards in the inevitable movement away from conservative agendas designed
to impede our pursuit of bright stars and the betterment of world
civilization. In the end, the great momentum of progress trumps all human
endeavors to halt that which cannot be stopped.

History is the movement of
progress, of leaping forward and not backwards, of escaping our troubled
past and embracing a better future. It is awakening and not remaining in
hibernation, of challenging and not acquiescing, of moving to accept
mankindís inevitable changes and not our mistakes. Like all else in the
universe our society evolves, it does not remain stagnant. Evolution is
about perfecting errors, of betterment for the sake of self-preservation and
of improving life for the better. This is progress, and it constantly points
up, not down.

All of manís time on Earth
has been a progressive movement; our historical record, archeological sites
and civilizationís many realities lend credence to this fact. Those who try
to maintain the status quo and conservative dogma are fighting an unwinnable
battle, as our history proves over and over again. The hindrance of
progress, though sometimes effective in the short term, is an experiment
destined to fail over the long-term life of man. It is reality; it is human
civilization.

The collective human
experience pushes us towards a greater understanding and empathy for our
fellow man. Slavery, once common among all groups, is now mostly a thing of
the past. Racism and fear of others different than ourselves is beginning to
dissipate, slowly but surely, thanks to our pluralistic society. We now
abhor crimes against humanity, war crimes and apartheid. The incessant wars
and battles constant throughout our existence that devastated mankind are
now controlled and less severe. We embrace womenís equality when for
thousands of years they were considered the inferior of man. Growing virtues
of fighting inequality and injustice continue to gain momentum. The idea of
the separation of church and state, once considered heresy, is now common.
Respect for other species and their plight is quietly growing. Science, once
hindered by those in power, has given us the tools to understanding who and
what we are. All of the above has been made possible because of progress.
Human history simply leads us in this direction.

The collective human
experience is pushing all together in sympathy, understanding and
solidarity. Greater freedoms and liberties now make us happier beings than
our long lost ancestors; our lives have more meaning, purpose and
independence than those that came before us; we are so much more educated
and enlightened, more cognizant of the world we inhabit. This is called
progress, and it bends over to nobody. It cannot be defeated nor destroyed.
Its power lies in the billions of human energies that have existed before,
walk today and crawl tomorrow.

While we might sometimes
think the opponents of change and the army of status quo conservatives has
the upper hand and is succeeding in hindering societyís ever-steady flow of
progress, this is a vastly distorted fallacy. When in doubt, simply look
towards the vast volumes of history. That is proof enough that progress will
not and cannot be altered. Progress is winning this war on human
enlightenment and betterment in a landslide, and those who would like to see
it eviscerated can only smile in their delusion that the conservative way
has triumphed. We have two million years of human evolution that tells us
otherwise.

No group epitomizes the
army of status quo conservatives more than the Taliban of Afghanistan. This
group of religious zealots enacted anything and everything that impeded
progress. I will refrain from describing these many beliefs but it is fair
to point out that the people of Afghanistan along with their culture and
society suffered tremendously thanks to the conservative views imposed on
them. The limited progress Afghanis initially had was severely amputated
thanks to the Taliban. Fortunately for the world, this group is no longer in
power, though through George Bushís failed "war on terror" they are slowly
but surely revitalizing themselves.

In the United States we
have a group, conservative and unenlightened, ignorant to the tunes of
history, in many ways similar but not as extreme as the Taliban, that is
trying to impose unclimbable walls of razor sharp wire around progress for
the sake of attempting to change our society to suit their conservative
agenda. George W. Bush, the American Taliban, heads this group.

Warmonger extraordinaire,
creator of doctrines of pre-emption and perpetrator of offensive wars for
imperial expansion, the American Taliban sits perched high above his
vultureís nest. As governor of Texas he allowed for the execution of more
prisoners than any other governor, and is proud of it. His thirst for blood
is unparalleled, his apathy for fellow men nonexistent. His appetite for
blood has led to the murder of tens of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Taliban used ropes and bullets to kill and execute; American Taliban
uses cluster and smart bombs, Apache helicopters, fighter jets, lethal
injection and the pathetic state of legal representation for the poor.

A born-again Christian,
espousing Jesus as his favorite philosopher, American Taliban does not seem
to understand, grasp or want to implement those same teachings he holds in
such high regard. This is hypocrisy, preaching from the pulpit to satisfy
the callings of his core constituency while unleashing furious fires of hell
on Earth onto both peoples and lands.

American Taliban lied to
the world in order to invade Iraq. He and his administration deceived all
Americans, distorting and contriving information and intelligence in order
to sell their pre-9/11 planned war to the public. As a result, more than 510
US soldiers have died and more than 10,000 have been injured in some form.
Countless more Iraqis have suffered the same fate. Yet lies so severe as to
merit impeachment and resignation go unchallenged by an impotent Congress
unwilling to act.

A DNA stained dress brought
forth impeachment, causing no damage or death, no government impropriety or
severe disorder, yet meticulous and malfeasant lies are allowed to continue.
Lies unheard of in American government history have been committed by the
American Taliban yet he remains in office, surely already planning the next
bundle of lies for the next expedition into unjust and unwarranted wars.
Excuse after excuse, lie after lie, American Taliban is showing the great
honor and integrity he once promised to restore to the now smeared White
House.

Domestically, American
Taliban and his conservative cohorts have declared war on the growing number
of gays in this country. The Taliban administration has commenced a civil
rights battle eerily similar to the one fought in the last century against
African-Americans. Out of fear of what they do not know or care to
understand they label and segregate. Out of their own ignorance and
small-mindedness they discriminate and belittle. Enraptured by their own
ideologies they fail to realize that the movement is too strong, that
progress cannot be defeated. The exact same thing is happening to gays as
happened to blacks decades ago. In the end, we will see the same result:
freedoms, liberties and protections for the persecuted class. Who is the
American Taliban to impose his backward ideology on an entire segment of
society? Who is he to say that two people that love each other cannot marry
or raise wonderful children?

Whether we agree or
disagree with the gay lifestyle, we cannot marginalize out of our own fears,
belief structure and ignorant hereditary conditioning. With over half of
marriages today ending in divorce, and knowing that the Christian church
once forbade divorce, considering it a sin, who is the American Taliban to
say that a marriage or union should or should not exist? It should not
matter who is getting married, and to prevent love from prospering in a
world desperately in need of it is to espouse all that is wrong with
mankind. We now live in the 21st century, not the 15th, and we must evolve
accordingly, along with the times.

In this sense the American
Taliban is trying to hinder progress, like many leaders before him, only to
find that the momentum is too great and the energy too encircling to stop.
This next wave of civil rights battles is as inevitable as a full moon,
given the constant state of change of America. The fight for gay rights is
not the first struggle for equality, nor will it be the last. It is those
insecure, ignorant and traditional entities, however, that fight tooth and
nail to maintain their perceived belief structure based on archaic
thousand-year-old beliefs and fables. In the end, they will lose their
battle, as they always do, and progress will once more rise like a giant
wave to swallow ignorance back to its rightful place.

In another arena womenís
rights are being diminished through the passage of a ban on partial birth
abortion. This maneuver by the American Taliban is designed with the
eventual outlawing of all forms of abortion in mind. The strategy employed
is one of baby steps, of eviscerating abortion rights one tiny step at a
time. This battle is seen as lasting several years, through the appointment
of conservative judges to the bench that share the same conservative views
as the American Taliban. Methodical and meticulous, this strategy has as a
purpose the destruction of womenís right to choose. Again, womenís right to
choose is fundamental progress, fought for centuries by women and men alike
in order to equalize womenís rights. This was another battle for equal civil
rights. And, as usual, progress eventually won.

Now, American Taliban has
succeeded in curtailing one form of abortion, robbing women of a right they
by birth should have as free human beings. Who is the American Taliban to
impose his belief and dogma onto millions of women? What makes his ignorant
policies supercede what a woman can decide based on her own life and mind?
This attempt by the American Taliban is nothing more than a political
charade to please his base, namely fundamentalist Christians.

Womenís right to chose is
an inalienable right endowed to all females. It is they alone who can and
should decide their fate. By robbing women of this right, the American
Taliban is fighting centuries of progress, years of hardship and
determination. He is trying to subvert a womanís equal rights, making her a
subjugated class considered different than men. He is saying that the state
can make a better determination of what is right for a woman better than she
can make on her own. And, lest we forget, abortion rights are themselves a
result of progress and of our society evolving with the times.

American Taliban is
imposing his own ignorant and backwater beliefs onto a nation of 285 million
people. Is he a god to have this right? I know god appointed him to conduct
the war on terror, but to also eviscerate womenís rights as well is probably
a little far fetched. After all, god might just be a woman. She did, after
all, grant Earth, its creatures and man the power to evolve. If she did not
want progress in our civilization, why would she create nothing but progress
throughout our history? Makes you wonder, doesnít it?

A great unsettling dilemma
that has only gotten worse since the American Taliban cheated his way into
the White House is the state of our childrenís education. Today, our
children are being made more ignorant than ever with the No Child Left
Behind faÁade. Our schools are teaching to the standardized test, ignoring
the necessary tools for ensuring the prospering of creativity and free
thought. Every child is different, every child learns in their own unique
way, yet through the American Talibanís mirage our children are being taught
like automatons. They are being denied that which is most necessary in order
to become an oasis of brightness and intelligence. The end result is a
generation of ignorant children turned slave-like adults.

The most fundamental years
of a child have now been converted to mush. Today, all children are being
left behind, and this will have a dramatic effect on our nationís future.
Our kids are being turned into docile creatures of conformity, trained to
never question authority, think for themselves and to always follow orders
and what those in power tell them. Systematically being made ignorant to
history, art, music, the world, languages, the environment, the real world,
philosophy and liberal sciences, they are slowly becoming hypnotized robots
of the state, the future assembly line of exploited workers that will enrich
the elite oligarchy. The eventual fall of the Roman Empire was in part a
result of this same phenomenon.

Ignorance is being used as
a tool while education is slowly turned into an instrument of manipulation
and conditioning. With the ever-rising cost of higher education, less and
less of our children will be privy to the liberated mind knowledge creates.
Instead of an educated society that asks questions and demands answers, we
will have a low wage, easily manipulated and exploited one subservient to
those in power. The American Taliban is assuring himself and the oligarchy
of the loyalty of millions of children whose destiny we are all condemning
due to our continued acquiescence to the destruction of millions of young
minds.

The American Taliban is
also engendering onto our children the teaching of sexual abstinence in our
nationís schools. This belief, conservative and blatantly Christian
fundamentalist, holds that only by abstaining from sex will sexually
transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies be stopped. This theory goes
against every human impulse and animal instinct. The changing of hormones
and chemicals in the bodies of young adolescents cannot be stopped by
preaching abstinence. To do so is ignorant and dangerous. We cannot fight
human biology with antiquated views of frivolous fantasy.

We have all been there;
teenagers are creatures jumping with hormones and horniness. They are going
to be sexually active, especially in todayís world, it is a fact. It is at
this time of development that we become capable of sexual reproduction, just
like any other mammal. Again, we might not like it, but biological evolution
does not change overnight, it takes eons. It is nature, pure and simple, and
to deny this reality is to live delusions of falsified pretenses.

Our children are being
taught scare tactics in school by preachers of abstinence designed to
misinform and further ignorance. Disinformation about contraceptives and
their usefulness only helps to place our children in more peril. The end
result is to further ignorance, STDís and unwanted pregnancies. American
Taliban is using our schools to impose his Christian fundamentalist ideology
that exacerbates rather than alleviates problems. This is the wrong
approach, a contradiction with reality and a backward policy that is better
suited for the 1500ís.

We can see yet again how
American Taliban, through his policies and politics, fosters ignorance and
danger onto our society. He is once more trying to subdue progress for the
sake of conservative beliefs. He is trying to make America stop the
incredible societal advancement it has created. The politics of the American
Taliban are but another manifestation of how conservative groups have
historically attempted to curtail progress. These policies end up hurting
rather than helping the nation. Denying the awesome power of societyís and
mankindís progressive inclinations is to fall prey to a vicious cycle of
torment and self-deception. One cannot fight with inevitability or history
or the collective conscious of humanity.

What American Taliban has
done over the last three years has been to try and erode the progressive
movement to the point where he can impose his conservative agenda on the
nation. He has divided the country based on the politics of hate and fear,
segregating us into groups and subgroups so that we are unable to unite
against him and his cabal. Scare tactics divide us into rich and poor,
minority and majority, urban, rural and suburban, gay and straight,
religious and secular, lower, middle and upper class and educated and
uneducated. They are designed to segregate us, grouping us with who we
associate with and think ourselves as. As a result, we fight each other over
fictional issues concocted by the American Taliban instead of fighting the
real problem together. It is easier to conquer and subdue weak and separate
group divisions than by fighting a united monolithic centurion yielding
exceptional strength.

In the end, American
Taliban will fail, as all that have fought progress eventually do. Those who
know nothing of history usually end up repeating it. Those who do not
understand human civilization or its constant movement towards progress
cannot triumph over that which they do not comprehend. Ignorant arrogance is
ignorance nonetheless.

The constant battle between
conservative and progressive agendas is as human as eating and sleeping. It
creates a better civilization and society because the incessant clashing of
ideas fosters compromise and debate. It opens eyes and extinguishes
ignorance because, in the end, after much fighting and hardship, progress is
proclaimed triumphant and society is made better as a result.

Our civilization today is
the culmination of thousands of years of struggle and evolution, of
progressí forward march through time in spite of constant threats and
hindrances, having survived nefarious leaders and self serving powers,
becoming the torch that lights our way into the futureís murky tunnel. There
is no reason to doubt that this truism will continue, much as it has for the
majority of human existence, much to the great detriment of the American
Taliban.